It’s a Friday afternoon. Under a clear, blue sky six people wait for the next Metro train at the Expo Park/USC station. Some stand, some sit and one student with a bright red backpack practices his kickflips.
One of those people is Desirae Ridley, a sophomore Business Administration student waiting to go home. She scans in [scan sound] with her U-Pass card, which she uses to go to and from campus.
Desirae Ridley: I heard about it originally from my roommate, and I was like, oh, yeah, we’re getting that so we can go as many places as we can.
U-Pass, short for Universal College Student Transit Pass, allows students like Ridley to take unlimited rides on LA Metro and buses. Last semester, they became available to all USC students for the first time, under the $93 transportation fee every student pays. That fee funds USC’s Lyft Rides program, commonly known as Fryft, campus shuttles and this newly expanded U-Pass program.
Ridley: For, like, even specifically the Metro, it takes you virtually almost all over L.A., and it’s free for students, you know you can ride it any day of the week. It runs all throughout breaks and stuff like that.
Before, U-Passes were only available for graduate students and cost 90 dollars to purchase. Data from USC Transportation shows that around 480 graduate students purchased or renewed a U-Pass card the spring semester before the change. In comparison, over 10,000 students received U-Passes last semester.
Associate Director with USC Transportation David Donovan said the split between undergraduate and graduate students who applied for these U-Passes surprised him.
David Donovan: So what we thought would happen would be that since it was being offered for undergraduate students for the very first time and since it was being offered for free for the very first time, that there would be an incredible uptake among the undergraduate students of the program. But of the 10,000 we distributed, there were about it was really, again, about 50/50 right down the line between graduate passes and undergraduate passes. And that was, to us, a surprising result.
USC Rideshare coordinator Eddie Soule hopes that U-Pass and other services supported by the transportation fee give students access to more convenient and sustainable transportation options.
Eddie Soule: We’re offering alternatives, right? In this goal of being more sustainable, we’re providing solutions for people, like, real solutions that people can participate in daily.
Helping students travel to and from campus is a major benefit of the expanded U-Pass program. However, Donovan also hopes students use it for more.
Donovan: By the end of calendar year 2024, they’ll have the opportunity to use this pass to go to LAX. We really look forward to students taking advantage of the opportunities they have to explore Los Angeles, travel for free using their Metro card. And be on the lookout for announcements from us. I know that transportation emails aren’t the sexiest thing, but when you see a transportation email come across, please do pay attention to it.
For Ridley, the U-Pass has been helpful for visiting concerts, the beach, and downtown with friends. In fact, she said she’s started telling other students to use it too.
Ridley: You’re here only here for, you know, three or four years, depending if you’re a transfer. And like, just go out and do things because you’re only in college once, you’re only this young once and so, like, go out and have the fun when you can.
Whether students are trying to be more sustainable, don’t have access to a car or just want to have options, the expanded U-Pass program provides a new way to get around LA.
For Annenberg Media, I’m Nina Moothedath.